Invasion
by BobH2
Summary: The culmination of all my Star Trek tales to date! With overwhelming firepower on its side, the Empire is finally ready to invade a Federation hollowed out by decades of Empire infiltration.
1. Chapter 1

Note: This is a sequel to all the tales leading up to it and, of course, contains many spoilers for them. They and this tale form one long, continuous saga so you really should read those others first. See profile for list.

Prologue:

Three billion miles out from the Sun, the light and heat that made it as far as Neptune and Pluto were pale and feeble things. Life as we know it could not exist unprotected on those icy worlds. Yet in the cold, dark space between the sun's most distant children, something stirred. It began as a point of light that became a disk, a circle of space outlined by a glowing rim. It grew rapidly until it was more than a kilometre across, forming a window into another universe.

Then something monstrous came through that window, slowly exuding itself into the Federation's universe, pointed at Pluto's moon Charon. Even though it was half a million miles distant, the interloper's arrival already had alarms sounding at Charon Base, a small Starfleet research station clinging doggedly to that barren rock. These in turn should have triggered an automatic transmission to Earth, but that transmission was blocked by the subspace interference generated by the interloper.

"Do we know what it is!" said Base Commander Bruce Adebeyor, shouting to be heard over the alarms.

"Negative, sir," replied Lieutenant Marianne Dorleac as she tried to steady the dancing, static-degraded image on the screen before her, "only that it's huge and it's headed straight for us. The amount of interference it's giving out is playing merry hell with all our scanners."

"Okay, no point taking any chances, we have to evacuate. Give the order for everyone to get to the life pods. There are seventeen people on this base and we need..."

Adebeyor never got to finish his sentence. At that precise instant a half-kilometre wide energy beam from the intruder sliced through the base cutting him and it in half as it bored deep into the moon itself. Charon started shaking, chunks flying off as it tore itself apart, until finally it exploded.

Once more a point of light appeared, this time directly in front of the planet-killer. That point became a disk, a circle of space outlined by a glowing rim, then grew rapidly until it was more than a kilometre across, forming a window to that other universe.

The killer slid back through the circle, which then closed behind it leaving nothing to show it had ever been there. Only rocks that had once been a world, and the bodies of the dead.

\- 1 -

According to my credentials, my name is Naomi Martin and I'm a colonel in Starfleet Intelligence. This is a lie. My real name is Janice Lester, and I'm not a colonel nor even an actual officer of Starfleet in any capacity. Yet in its way even that's a lie. I was born James Tiberius Kirk, and I was captain of the starship Enterprise until that day three decades ago when the original Janice Lester stole my body and switched lives with me. She then continued my career while I, unaware of who I had been thanks to a brainwashing device, became a wife and a mother, giving birth to two children. They're adults now with lives of their own and my own wife, Janice Rand, is a Starfleet reservist currently on a milk run on board the USS Trafalgar having been temporarily called back to duty. This was very convenient. It meant I didn't have to explain my own absence which, since I was illegally impersonating a Starfleet officer, I couldn't do without lying to her. And having always kept the secret of who I used to be from her, I wouldn't lie to Janice about anything.

"Status, Mr Satok," said Captain Forrest.

"Sensors show several small craft in orbit around the planet, but no other starships," said his Vulcan helmsman.

"Then take us into orbit."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

We were on board the USS Spencer and in front of us lay Camus II. Unusually, the planet was less than a day from Earth at maximum warp, but because it was the only object of any interest in that direction and so far from any shipping routes it had been discovered a lot later than habitable worlds much more distant. Ordinarily such a world would have been a prime candidate for colonisation, even with its isolation, but Camus II held secrets that had led to it being declared off-limits for decades.

Standing there on the bridge, seeing the planet where the original Janice Lester had stolen my body for the first time in three decades, I felt a surge of excitement. This was it. My forged credentials had got me here. Now my true mission could finally begin.

Captain Forrest swivelled his chair to face me. Mid-thirties, handsome, and bearded, he had an easy way with his crew that reminded me of someone I used to be. Jill Finn, his personal yeoman, brought him a PADD to sign off on the completion of orbital insertion, just as Janice Rand would have brought an electronic clipboard to me in our days aboard the Enterprise. Blonde, bubbly, pretty, highly competent, and so very young; Jill Finn reminded me a lot of Janice, too.

"This is it," said the Captain, watching Yeoman Finn appreciatively as she walked away before turning back to me, "our final destination. We hope you enjoyed travelling with us. Please leave your seats in the upright position, and remember to take all luggage with you."

I chuckled at this.

"Yes, thank you, Lee," I said, "I'll be sure to recommend your service to all my friends. Looking forward to your own visit to Camus II?"

"Not really," he said, grimacing. "You just hitched a ride with us, but my entire crew, the command staff and I have to spend the next few days being put through our paces. I know we have to have periodic training sessions to keep our skills up to date, but I can't say they're my favorite part of the job. It's odd how Starfleet has been so gung ho about pushing them lately, though."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean that over the past few months pretty much every ship in the fleet has had to report here to Camus II for training."

"That is odd," I said, frowning.

"Something has to be up, but if so no one's saying anything. I don't suppose you know what's going on, or that you could tell me if you did?"

"Right," I said, "on both counts."

"Well, orders are orders. I'll have everyone start beaming down. A small caretaker crew will be sent up from the planet to look after the ship while we're all put through our paces."

Discovering Camus II was now a Starfleet training facility had come as a big surprise. The events that had led to my becoming Janice Lester had been officially classified soon after they occurred, and the existence of the mind-swapping machine was a closely guarded secret. The planet had then come under the control of Starfleet Intelligence, who had recently transferred Khan's brainwashing device there, too. And now Camus II was also a training facility? It made no sense. I had no idea what was going on down there, but the more I moved these facts around in my mind the less I liked the patterns they made. Something sinister was afoot, I was sure of it.

The beaming down of the entire crew of the USS Spencer proceeded in an orderly fashion over the next couple of hours until there were only five of us left. I was there in the transporter room when the caretaker crew came aboard. There were six of them. Their commanding officer stepped down from the platform and saluted Lee.

"Lieutenant Priyanka Patel. Permission to come aboard."

"Permission granted, lieutenant. Take good care of my ship while we're gone."

"We will, sir. You have my word."

Jill Finn, the helmsman Satok, Chief Tactical Officer Kate Shaw, the captain and myself took our places on the transporter pads while one of the men Priyanka Patel had brought with her operated the transporter controls. Seconds later we materialized on the surface of Camus II.

During my previous visit here as Jim Kirk I had beamed directly into the subterranean network of caves and tunnels that housed the bodyswap device. Today I found myself amid an encampment in the foothills of a large mountain, under a heavily overcast sky, a smattering of snow on the ground. It was windy here and I shivered, momentarily chilled by a sudden cold gust.

"Standard Starfleet planetary shelters," said Kate Shaw, looking at the rows of single level units covering the area around us, "assembled here from replicated components easy to beam down. Apart from the administrative building beyond them, this place all looks pretty makeshift."

"Which means it was established in a hurry," observed Lee Forrest.

Anything else he might have had to say was cut short by members of his crew emerging from the shelters and gathering before him. While this was going on I stared up the slope from us to a cave mouth. The administrative buildings would be staffed by regular Starfleet personnel, I was sure, and it would doubtless be they who ran the training program. The cave mouth, however, was guarded by armed men in Starfleet Intelligence uniforms. There was no doubt in my mind that this led to the cave where the bodyswap device lay, and to other things they'd rather we not see.

When Lee had finished giving a pep talk to his crew, Kate Shaw came over and stood beside me. Tall and athletic, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, she radiated strength and intelligence. She studied the cave mouth for a while, and frowned.

"Armed guards," she said, "I wonder what they have in those caves so important it requires armed guards?"

"Even if I knew I wouldn't be permitted to tell you."

"Did you hear that we're the second starship to pass through here this week? The other crew reboarded their ship and left Camus II only yesterday."

"Do you know the name of the ship?"

"Yeah, it was the USS Trafalgar"


	2. Chapter 2

\- 2 -

Watching Captain Grace Coleman beside me in the command chair I found myself thinking once again about how improbable my being her number two was. My name is Janice Lester, and she believes me to be a thirty years younger version of her mother, time displaced from an alternate universe. Captain Coleman is the daughter of this universe's Arthur Coleman and Janice Lester, a woman who has no idea she was once their Jim Kirk. She was here when I first came aboard USS Endurance. We talked for a long time, each of us intrigued by the other for obvious reasons. I did not share my own bodyswapped status with her, not that I could have, nor that I knew about hers, yet our conversation still revealed some things that were fascinating and others that were horrifying. The thought of willingly laying with Arthur Coleman of all people and having two children with him made me shudder. Her Coleman had died in an accident, and she was now the wife of Janice Rand. Which suited me just fine. The Jim Kirk of old could have been a problem, but as an aged, happily married stay-at-home wife and mother oblivious of her true past he was no threat at all.

The tale I've told everyone about my origins, that where I'm from I'm captain of the USS Enterprise and married to my Jim Kirk, is a lie, that universe made up. I was born James Tiberius Kirk, and in the universe I'm actually from and was a loyal servant of the Terran Empire. I was captain of the ISS Enterprise, until the day our Janice Lester stole my body and switched lives with *me*. When my male body was destroyed over there I vowed to travel here to steal the body of their Jim Kirk. That hadn't worked out and now here I was, a spy, and still loyal to the Empire.

We were heading back to Earth when we got the call. All contact had been lost with Charon Base and though long-range scanners indicated *something* had happened out there on the edge of the solar system no one had any idea what. Starfleet had ordered the Endurance to Charon at maximum warp to assess the situation, and provide whatever aid we could. Chief Engineer Moira Makutsi had protested that we were overtaxing the engines but that couldn't be helped. Still, it was strange that Endurance alone had been given this task when there were almost certainly other ships closer to Charon than us.

Sweeping into the solar system from deep space on a long parabolic arc, the USS Endurance dropped out of warp barely a thousand miles from Charon. Waiting for us was a nasty surprise.

It wasn't there.

"Shields up!" shouted Grace Coleman, rising from her chair as we found ourselves in a debris field of rocks, some of which were many times larger than the ship itself.

"Charon," I said, awed by what I was seeing on the screen, "this has to be all that's left of Charon."

"Agreed, Captain," said Science Officer Reyna Skullcrusher her instruments confirming what we'd all suspected.

"Scan for any survivors of Charon Base, Ms Crusher."

This was Starfleet's preferred contraction of Reyna Skullcrusher's surname, the full version being considered inappropriate for use during official shipboard operation.

Reyna did as Grace asked, but it was hopeless.

"Negative, Captain," she said. "No survivors."

"Any luck contacting Starfleet, Ms Nyonga?"

"Negative, Captain," said Zoe Nyonga, our communications officer. "Too much sub-space interference. It must be why no distress call got out."

"I concur," said Reyna. "I am getting unusual radiation readings, but the local subspace... It's almost as if it's been churned up by the passage of something large and powerful."

"We need to recover what bodies we can. Ms Lester?"

"On it, captain," I said, activating the internal communications system build into the armrest of my own chair.

"Transporter room, this is Commander Lester," I said. "Prepare to transport aboard mortal remains of Charon Base staff as their locations are marked by the helm."

Helmsman Kevin Okuda and navigator Michael Shaw were already doing this, pinging the corpses as they drifted into vision on the screen. Even as we watched, one of them started dematerialising.

"With me, Ms Lester," said Grace, leaping to her feet. "You have the bridge, Ms Crusher."

We took the turbolift down to the deck where medbay was located and made our way there. Dr Saavik and Nurse Willoughby were already examining the first of the corpses when we arrived. Unlike some of the others we'd seen, this one was still relatively intact. Kate let out an involuntary gasp when she saw it.

"Marianne Dorleac," she said, regaining her composure. "I'd forgotten she was stationed on Charon Base."

"Did you know her, captain?"

"Yes, from Starfleet Academy. She was...a friend."

From what I'd heard of Grace's time at the Academy I was pretty sure that in this case 'friend' meant 'sexual conquest'.

"Cause of death, Dr Saavik?"

"Explosive decompression, captain, as expected," said the teenage Vulcan, "though some of the flesh has also been singed by a high-energy beam. There are some unusual radiation readings, too."

"Show me."

The nurse handed her his medical tricorder. It was strange not having Carter Willoughby III making sardonic comments, but even he had been sobered by the fate of Charon.

"The same readings we recorded on the bridge," said Grace, frowning, "and I have this nagging feeling I've seen them somewhere before. If only I could remember where."

Then she snapped her fingers.

"Got it!" she said. "C'mon, we have to return to the bridge."

When we got there, Grace wasted no time.

"Put the radiation readings you took onscreen, please, Ms Crusher. And call up radiation readings from USS Constellation mission report of stardate 4202.1 for comparison."

Reyna did as ordered, replacing the images on the bridge viewscreen of the space directly ahead of us with both sets of readings. They were identical.

"I..I think I recognize this from my time at Starfleet Academy," said Kevin Okuda, while beside him Michael Shaw nodded in agreement.

"As do I, Mr Okuda," said Grace Coleman, "as should anyone who studied the destruction of the Constellation and the accompanying Enterprise mission report. Charon was destroyed by another doomsday machine."


	3. Chapter 3

\- 3 -

Sitting on his elevated throne behind the captain's chair on the bridge of the ISS Leviathan, flagship of the imperial fleet, Emperor Khan Noonien Singh idly stroked the fine, blonde hair of the small child standing next to that throne. The viewscreen showed the doomsday machine slowly slide back into their universe through the portal it had opened, something Khan watched with a satisfied smile. A kilometre in diameter and several kilometres in length, the machine was a thing of beauty - lethal, planet-destroying beauty.

"Doomsday machine is through and portal closing," said Captain Adamant from his seat at Khan's feet. "Status of enemy moon Charon, Miss Summers."

"Telemetry from doomsday machine indicates the moon was totally destroyed," said the android, studying her instruments. "No survivors."

"Excellent, excellent!" grinned Khan, gazing at Kara Summers affectionately.

Over the past thirty years, ever since she killed the traitor Sybok, the android had become one of his closest aides. The sole survivor of a long dead alien civilisation she was a loyal servant of the Empire, one with no apparent ambitions of her own. Her only quirk was her devotion to her 'daughter', the same 'child whose hair he had been idly stroking. That hair had been parted in the middle and braided into two long pigtails, each tied off with a pink bow. The girl had large blue eyes, a tiny nose, and a dusting of freckles across her cheeks. Dressed in her usual white ankle socks, pink Mary Janes and pink dress, she still looked like the same four year-old child she had been three decades ago. Of course, in this case appearances were deceiving. She too was an android, one in whom a sentient copy of the consciousness of the Federation's Mr Spock had been placed. It was a strange relationship, one in which the child obeyed her 'mother' just as a human child would, something confirmed by listening devices in their quarters. Why what had essentially been an adult Vulcan male would go along with this Khan neither knew nor cared. All that mattered to him was that the relationship kept Kara calm and productive, which it did.

"Status checks complete," announced Kara. "Doomsday machine is completely undamaged. Whatever Federation forces there were on Charon don't appear to have fired on her at all."

"Even better than expected," said Khan.

"Might I enquire as to the purpose of destroying their Charon, my lord?" said Captain Adamant, turning to face Khan.

"It serves as a signal to all our sleeper agents over there to get ready because we are coming," said Khan, "but more than that an incident like this so close to Earth will draw them in. The Federation will send starships to investigate. That is when we shall strike. The superior man ensures his victory before he enters a battle. Not only do we vastly outgun them when it comes to firepower, but half their fleet is now controlled by our sleeper agents. When I give the word they will turn on the other half and destroy them. We haven't even crossed over to their universe en masse yet, but we've already defeated them. From our initial incursion to the Federation's capitulation should be no more than a matter of hours. This will be one of the quickest wars in history."


	4. Chapter 4

\- 4 -

On Camus II we heard about the loss of Charon the following morning via public news channels. They featured few images and gave little detail beyond the bare fact that it was gone, but it was enough to spark a lot of conversation in the camp.

Today's training began with a twenty mile run with full backpacks to test fitness and several groups had already set off at specified intervals. Though not part of his crew and so thankfully exempt from such shenanigans, I breakfasted with Captain Lee Forrest before he too was scheduled to set off.

"Do you think the destruction of Charon was as the result of an attack or of something going catastrophically wrong at Charon Base?" I asked.

"Without more information I don't know what to think," he said, looking thoughtful. "Starfleet probably knows more, but they haven't seen fit to share that knowledge with us yet."

We were joined by Kate Shaw, a phaser against her left thigh as always, who dropped down on the bench beside me, looking concerned.

"Jill not with you?" said Lee, frowning.

Kate and Jill Finn had been billeted together in the same shelter.

"A couple of heavies from Starfleet Intelligence just came to our shelter and took her away," said Kate. "They wouldn't tell us why and Jill offered no resistance, but I thought I'd better come and report this to you immediately."

"What the devil are they up to?" thundered Lee, clearly outraged. "Jill Finn is a member of my crew. If they had any business with her they should have cleared it with me first. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

With that he got up and stormed out.

"He looks steamed."

"Can you blame him?" said Kate, pouring herself a coffee. "They had no right to do what they did."

I envied Kate her youth and her strength. She would shortly join the next batch to set off on their run, a feat that was now well beyond my physical capabilities. I was worried about Jill Finn and wondered what Starfleet Intelligence could want with her, just as I wondered what if anything they might have done to my beloved wife. Janice had been on the USS Trafalgar when it spent several days here and I desperately wanted to know that she was alright, but private communication channels had been suspended the past few months for 'operational reasons', a bland term that could mean anything. I wondered if Kate knew any more.

"Not really," she said when I asked her. "Although I did discover something interesting when I asked around. It seems like pretty much every ship of the line has visited Camus II over the past few months. After we get processed there's only one major ship that hasn't been here yet - the USS Endurance."

I raised an eyebrow at this. It was probably just a coincidence that only the crew of my daughter's ship had yet to be subjected to whatever was going on here, but I owed it to her to get to the bottom of things before that happened.

After Kate joined the next batch of her crewmates to be sent off on the training run, I made my way up the rocky slope to the cave mouth, watched with suspicion all the while by its guards. I got to within a dozen yards of them before I was instructed to halt by the more senior of the two, a sergeant.

"This area is restricted to authorised personnel only," said one of them. "Please state your business here, ma'am."

That I was wearing the uniform of a Starfleet Intelligence officer had got me this close to them, but without the necessary authorisation I would get no further.

"Colonel Naomi Martin," I said, handing over my forged papers. "I'm here at the behest of Starfleet Command."

"May I ask the purpose of your visit?" asked the sergeant as he ran a computer check on me.

"No you may not, sergeant," I said. "That information is classified."

My credentials passed muster, as I knew they would, and the guards lowered the force field door for me.

"Do you need someone to guide you, colonel?" I was asked as my papers were returned to me.

"Thank you, sergeant, but no. I'll make my own way from here."

As I progressed along the tunnel beyond, I noticed the floor sloped down gently from the cave mouth to the network of caves below. The walls around me had mostly been ground away until they were sheer and flat, with only a few sections of exposed, undressed rock remaining. This was as I remembered it from my previous visit, but that had been a long time ago. Personnel at this facility seemed few and far between, but even so I could hardly ask one of them to direct me to the cave containing the bodyswapping device and so risk revealing I didn't belong here. As luck would have it, I stumbled across something else I knew all too well in one of the many rooms hewn from the surrounding rock.

In the room was a glass-walled chamber. In the center of that chamber was the device, which looked like a high-tech version of the barbaric electric chairs they had used to execute people in the twentieth century. This was the obscene brainwashing device invented by Khan Noonien Singh during the Eugenics Wars that he used to overwrite the personalities of captured troops and turn them against their former allies.

And strapped into the chair was Captain Lee Forrest.


	5. Chapter 5

\- 5 -

It was a long time ago, but I remembered being in Captain Forrest's place. Unable to move a muscle thanks to the paralytic I'd been injected with, I had no way of signalling it was me and not Janice Lester in the chair to those watching, or of expressing my rising panic. Seeing the fear in my eyes the real Janice, now in the body of Jim Kirk, had smirked and kissed me on the forehead before lowering the cowl of the device down over my head. Unaware that anything was wrong, Bones McCoy had remotely activated the device. Instantly, alien thoughts, memories, and desires had flooded into my mind, overwhelming my own and forcing them out. In the process my personality was replaced by that of a feminine, submissive version of Janice Lester who wanted nothing more than to be a wife and mother.

That was what was done to me, but what were they intending to do to Lee? I was moving to free him when I heard someone coming and so had to quickly hide behind some containers.

Two technicians appeared and busied themselves about the device. One lowered the cowl over Lee's head, then exited the chamber, closing the door behind him. This done, the other remotely activated the device. Lights on the cowl came on, Lee's eyes first went wide then he closed them. Apart from this there was nothing obvious to an outside observer to indicate that anything was happening, yet a minute or two later it was over. The technicians entered, unstrapped Lee from the device, and led him away, still a little unsteady on his feet.

I was alone in the room once more. Knowing the technicians could return at any moment, I quickly emerged from my hiding place and crossed to the chamber. Once inside, I pulled a small metal box from my shoulder bag, one that my friend John Running Bear had prepared for me, clamped it to the unit on the rear of the chair, and activated it. The box housed a disruptor that R.B. assured me would silently fry the circuitry of any device it was attached to beyond hope of repair. I had to wait for a few seconds until the small light came on telling me it had done its work, before I could remove it and return to my place of concealment.

I had just watched a Starfleet officer - the captain of a starship, no less - get brainwashed, and I had no idea why or what they had done to him. But I knew the possibilities, and they scared me, as did those of the ancient bodyswapping device that lay elsewhere in these caves. I found myself remembering Arthur Coleman's trial all those years ago and what Admiral Nogura had said when the three tribunal members had finished conferring, and he delivered their verdict. I can still remember his words:

"After considering the testimony of all concerned, this tribunal is minded to agree with Captain Kirk that in this case exile on Earth is punishment enough. Accordingly, the prisoner is now released and is free to go. However, before you all leave I have to inform you that Camus II has now been declared off-limits and those of you who are aware of the device there and what it is capable of are ordered to tell no one about it. We will be requiring you to list anyone you may have already told so that they too can be sworn to secrecy. The nature of the device is such that if knowledge of its existence got out it would inevitably be destabilising. That is all."

All very high-minded and sensible, yet here I now was on Camus II where Starfleet Intelligence were in charge and appeared to be doing things that had once been prosecuted as war crimes. I wondered how it could have come to this, and if I had been naive for never imagining that it would.

When the tribunal had filed out, Arthur was taken into a back room so that release papers could be signed and his effects returned to him, while I and those with me had made our way down to the courtroom chamber floor. Janice Rand had been there, and only when she rushed into the arms of her then-girlfriend Lieutenant Jamie Lisa and they kissed had I realised she was bi. Someone had asked me what my plans were now that Arthur was free.

"I'm going to take him back to my apartment and straight to bed. We have a lot of lost time to make up for," I'd replied, because in my own case, one of the things the brainwashing did was turn me into Arthur Coleman's ideal woman. I was to be his reward for the part he played in facilitating the original bodyswap.

And I was. We married, I gave him two children, and I was very happy. Never for a moment had I suspected my choices were not my own. Arthur died not long after our son was born, and that was when Janice Rand came back into my life. Marrying her was definitely my choice, and the best decision I ever made. But none of that would have happened if Arthur had lived.

I was pulled from these reveries by a commotion. Lee Forrest having been led away, another person was now being led in. Held securely between two burly security officers, she was struggling with them every step of the way. It was Jill Finn, Lee's bubbly yeoman. They took her into the chamber, forced her into the chair, and pressed a hypospray against her arm. The paralytic immediately took the fight out of her. She sat there completely docile as they strapped her in and lowered the cowl down over her head. This done, they stepped out of the chamber, closed the door behind them, and the master technician remotely activated the device.

Or at least he tried to.

When nothing happened, he frowned then conferred with the other technician, casting worried glances at Jill Finn. Eventually they reached a decision and removed her from the chamber. Since she was still paralysed this meant they had to carry her away supported between them. Curious as to where they were taking her I decided to follow, hoping they might also lead me to Lee Forrest.

Unfortunately, when I exited the room there was no sign of them in the corridor beyond. They must already have taken one of the many others that branched off this one. Not knowing if they had turned right or left I chose a direction and random and set off. I hadn't gone far before I heard voices coming from a room whose door was open, familiar voices.

I peeped into the room...and froze. No wonder the voices had seemed familiar. They belonged to Spock. And Uhura? But that was impossible. Uhura lived on in the body of Zoe Nyonga, but her original body was dead - I'd seen this with my own eyes, been at the funeral where we committed it to the depths of space. Then I realised something else, something that in my shock at seeing Uhura alive I'd initially failed to register.

Spock had a beard.

In that moment everything fell into place. These were the Spock and Uhura of the mirror universe! The Empire was running this facility, and they were brainwashing the senior crewmembers of our starships! In fact they had *already* brainwashed most of them, which could only mean one thing. Imminent invasion of our universe! This was far bigger than anything I'd imagined before coming here. I had to alert Starfleet Command immediately.

I turned quietly, leaving them to their conversation, but I'd only gone a few metres before a phaser was suddenly pressed into the small of my back.

"Please come quietly, 'colonel'," said Kate Shaw. "You're under arrest."


	6. Chapter 6

\- 6 -

For a moment everyone seemed stunned by the realisation that Charon had been destroyed by a doomsday machine. Of all those on the bridge, I was the only one not surprised. But then why would I be? I had been there when the Empire captured it, after all.

In both our universes the doomsday machine was an ancient, totally autonomous alien weapon of last resort that had drifted into our galaxy where it then started destroying planets as it was programmed to do. Its arrival caught the Federation completely by surprise. Not so the Empire. Thanks to having had access to the time-displaced Federation starship USS Defiant and its records for a century by that point, we were expecting its arrival, knew exactly where and when that arrival would take place, and had had decades to prepare for it. I still remembered that day vividly. I was captain of the ISS Enterprise, still James T. Kirk, and feeling on top of the world...

"We have contact with a large object entering star system L-370 at the exact point and exact time you said it would, captain," said Spock, looking up from his instruments. "I would very much like to know how you came by such knowledge."

"I'm sure you would, Mr Spock, but the answer to that question is above your pay grade."

Spock stroked his beard and regarded me thoughtfully, but said nothing.

"Is the ISS Constellation ready, Uhura?" I asked.

"Affirmative," she replied. "Captain Masada confirms they're standing by and ready to act when you give the order."

I smiled at this. At one point it had looked as if Matt Decker was going to be given command of this mission and take all the glory since, as a commodore, he outranked me. Fortunately, I was able to use my Tantalus device to aid Masada in eliminating Decker and assuming command of the Constellation. He's been very grateful.

"Do we know what this alien artefact is capable of?" asked Spock.

"Yes, it's a planet-killer. It destroys them and converts their remains to fuel."

"Then I recommend we move to intercept. The orbits of the seven planets in this system are currently bringing them into alignment. This is unfortunate. The artefact is almost upon the outermost planet and from there could travel inwards, destroying them one by one."

"Negative, Mr Spock. The colonists in this system have not been as grateful for the blessings bestowed on them by the Empire as they should be. Seeing how we neutralise this menace after their outer planet is destroyed by it should improve matters in that regard. Also, I want to see what this 'doomsday machine' is capable of for myself."

"I would remind you that the outer planet is home to seven thousand colonists."

"Noted," I replied, "but irrelevant."

Spock had wisely remained silent after that, and we had watched as the doomsday machine attacked the outer world, its mighty energy beam slicing through habitat domes and oxygen plants as it cut deep into the planet's crust. Vast cracks appeared spewing molten magma, the doomsday machine splitting the planet as one might a diamond, until it broke apart, finally expiring in a huge explosion. The machine easily weathered the storm of rock that came its way, drawing fragments into its massive maw.

It was magnificent.

Watching it do its work I found myself getting quite aroused, but I could only view the spectacle before us for so long. Eventually it was time.

"Okay, let's move in," I said. "Relay the order to the Constellation, Uhura."

"Aye aye, captain."

We positioned ourselves above the doomsday machine, and the Constellation below - insofar as those terms have any meaning in space - then simultaneously fired specially developed 'harpoons' into carefully chosen spots on its surface. Almost immediately, streams of data passed down the cables, attacking and overwhelming the doomsday machine's defences against such attack and rewriting its code. Within minutes it was clear we had won. Its systems powered down and it went into 'sleep mode'. Where the Federation had had to destroy their doomsday machine at great cost, ours had been captured and was ready to be pressed into service by the Empire.

"I am puzzled by something," said Spock. "This 'doomsday machine' entered our galaxy from deep space. It is probably a survivor of some ancient conflict, and is something we have never encountered before. Understanding the alien code language used to program it would take many years of study, as would developing effective programs to counter that code, yet we had these ready and knew the most effective way to deploy them. How is that possible?"

"Pay grade, Mr Spock, pay grade," I said, rubbing my stubbled chin and enjoying myself hugely. "This has been a good day."

Yes, it had. Remembering it now I grew wistful, contemplating all I had lost since then, not least my manhood. I had come to this universe to regain it, to be free of this weak female body with it's smooth face and soft curves that Janice Lester had trapped me in, but that goal seemed further away than ever.

My starfleet badge started vibrating. The frequency of the vibration told me this was a private message. I tapped the badge.

"Time to go," said a voice in my ear, "there's not a second to lose."

I got to my feet.

"I'm feeling unwell," I told the captain. "I think I need to report to sickbay."

Grace nodded absently, her attention on the viewscreen. Seconds later multiple portals opened in front of the USS Endurance and starships began pouring through, all of them with Empire markings. As I stepped into the turbolift more portals were forming, the biggest yet, and through these came doomsday machines.

Six of them.


	7. Chapter 7

\- 7 -

As we made our way to wherever Kate Shaw was taking me, I thought about turning and wrestling the phaser from her. I just as quickly dismissed the idea. Kate was younger, stronger, and faster than me. In my prime I might have been able to take her, but not now. Sadly even if I'd still been a man, been Jim Kirk rather than Janice Lester, my clock just had too many years on it.

When we arrived at the room that was our destination, Kate pressed the door buzzer. The door whooshed open, and there he stood - Spock, *my* Spock, craggy-faced and beardless.

"Spock?" I said, not quite believing my eyes.

"Ms Lester," said Spock. "You have much to explain. That will be all, Ms Shaw, You can leave the prisoner with me."

"Are you sure, sir?" she replied, sounding uncertain.

"Quite sure. Or do you believe Ms Lester capable of overpowering me?"

"No sir, I do not."

"Then that will be all, Lieutenant Commander."

"Very good, sir."

When she had gone, I turned to my old friend.

"Spock! It's good to see you again, but you need to contact Starfleet Command. I don't know how, but agents of the Empire have somehow crossed from the mirror universe and infiltrated this facility."

Spock frowned.

"How is it you know about the mirror universe, and the Empire? Information about them is classified and not public knowledge. I might assume you had learned of them during the time you appropriated Captain Kirk's body, but it was my understanding those memories had been overwritten. There is also the matter of how you came to be in possession of fake credentials entered into the system by Jim Kirk during his time as an admiral. They are why I tasked Lieutenant Commander Shaw with watching you."

I let out a long sigh. We didn't have time for this.

"We can't go any further until you mind meld with me," I said.

"Indeed?" said Spock, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, because it's the only way you're going to believe me and not question everything I tell you, just like you did following my last visit to Camus II."

Spock thought about this for a moment, nodded, then raised a hand and gently placed his fingers on the side of my face, adjusting them slightly until he could make the meld. I offered no resistance, opening my mind fully to his. After a minute or so, Spock broke contact and lowered his hand.

"Jim?" he said. "How is this possible?"

"It's possible because though we believed I had forced my mind back into my own body on the Enterprise by sheer force of will and wrested control from Janice Lester, I had done no such thing. Janice let me do it. She never intended my return to my own body to be anything other than temporary. The link between us remained and could only be undone by the machine here on Camus II. Later, when she was strapped into Khan's brainwashing device, her original personality about to be overwritten by a more docile, more feminine one she had created, Janice forced the switch again and I was the one who got brainwashed instead of her. For most of the past three decades I believed I was Janice Lester, and always had been, while she took my place."

"Fascinating," said Spock. "At no point during that time did I suspect she was not you."

"As captain of the Enterprise she acquitted herself well. I've read the mission reports and could find nothing in them I would have done differently. But then, I think she took more of me than just my body."

"Explain."

"Our understanding of Khan Noonien Singh's brainwashing device is that when it overwrites the existing personality of anyone subjected to it, that personality is then gone forever."

"That is correct."

"So how then have my own memories and so many of my original personality traits returned? Where were they in the meantime? The answer has to lie with the alien bodyswapping device. Janice told me we were still connected, and proved as much when she switched me back into her body. Is it possible our minds remained permanently 'quantum entangled', that rather than being overwritten my original memories were sent down the link between us in some fashion? Also, while we were still entangled like that, could she have fooled even a mind-meld?"

"Unknown, but it is an intriguing idea."

"It's also possible that exposure to the strange energy ribbon that killed her then triggered a cascade of memories back down the link and into my mind, because somehow or other I got them back."

"Who else have you told about this, Jim? Does Janice Rand know?"

"No, she doesn't. No one does but you. And it's not Jim, not any more."

"With the alien device on this world you could have a male body. Jim Kirk could live again."

"Thank you, but no. Too much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Those who love me love the woman they've known all these years In the case of my children, the only person they've ever known me as. I'm their mother and I will stay their mother. More importantly, Jim Kirk still has enemies who wouldn't hesitate to strike at him through his family. That's why David was killed, and I refuse to risk losing Janice, Grace, or Grant and his family because of who I used to be. Jim Kirk is dead, and he has to stay dead. But enough about me, we have to tell Starfleet Command what the Empire is doing here."

"The Empire is doing nothing here," said Spock. "I am the director of this facility, and I am in charge of brainwashing Starfleet personnel."


	8. Chapter 8

\- 8 -

"Are the cameras ready?"

"Affirmative, my lord," said Captain Adamant. "A cloud of micro-drones will pass through with the fleet when we open portals to the Federation's universe. They will record the coming battle from every angle, combining their input to create a three dimensional live-feed. With the feed from the bridge of this flagship, your victory will be live-streamed through a dimensional portal to every corner of the Empire."

"Excellent! Excellent!"

Khan grinned wolfishly. Three decades of planning and preparation were about to come to fruition. What came next was almost a formality. Victory was assured.

The viewscreen was currently displaying the fleet, arrayed before him. There were thirty starships in all, every one of which was superior to any vessel the Federation could call upon. Then there was his own ship, the Leviathan, which was in turn larger and more powerful than any of them. More powerful still were his doomsday machines. He had six in all, five of them constructed over the past twenty years having been reverse-engineered from the original that Captain James T. Kirk had captured. Khan sometimes still missed Kirk. His natural bloodthirstiness and contempt for the very concept of mercy were exemplary, yet he had still ultimately proven unworthy. In the Empire, promotion was achieved by assassinating those above you and taking their position. Kirk had been killed during one such challenge to his authority. It was unfortunate, but fate had to be allowed to take its course.

"We've given the Federation long enough to get starships to Charon," Khan announced. "Let the invasion commence!"

One by one, each starship opened a portal directly in front of them and sailed through it into that other universe. When they had done so the Leviathan followed suit, as did the doomsday machines. What they found on the other side was a disappointment. Rather than the Federation fleet Khan had hoped to decimate, all that awaited them was a single starship. It made no attempt to flee, maintaining its position until the entire Empire force had assembled. Khan frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Scan the enemy ship. I want to know the status of their shields and weapons."

"Yes, my lord," said Captain Adamant. "Helmsman, full scan of that ship."

Ten seconds later the scan was complete, but the helmsman had something else to report first.

"A small shuttlecraft has just launched from the rear of the enemy ship. Should we intercept or destroy?"

"Is it headed for Earth?"

"Negative. Its course will take it out of the solar system and into deep space."

"Probably cowards fleeing rather than stand with their crew and face us," sneered Khan. "Let them go. Such people do not deserve a warrior's death. Now give me the result of your scans."

"Yes, my lord. Shields have not been raised and all weapons systems appear to be at standby status only. They have not gone to battle stations."

"Are they getting ready to surrender to us?" said Adamant, sounding uncertain.

"Let's find out," said Khan. "Open a hailing channel."

"Hailing channel open," said the communications officer.

An image of the Federation ship's bridge appeared on the viewscreen. Sitting in the captain's chair was a confident-looking young woman.

"Hello, Federation ship. This is the ISS Leviathan, flagship of the imperial fleet of the Terran Empire and I am Emperor Khan Noonien Singh."

"I am Captain Grace Coleman of the USS Endurance, and we know who you are. Starfleet had a couple of run ins with your counterpart over here, which he lost. The last resulted in his death."

"Careful, woman," said Khan, menacingly, "It isn't wise to try and provoke me. If you and your crew hope to survive you will now kneel before Khan, just as your entire United Federation of Planets soon will."

"That will not be happening," said Captain Coleman. "I'm afraid you appear to be labouring under a misapprehension. Starfleet didn't send me here to bend a knee. They sent me here to accept your surrender."

For a moment Khan said nothing, stunned by the woman's audacity.

"Are you mad, woman? You're facing a vastly superior force and you haven't even raised your shields or gone to battle stations."

"I don't need to," she replied, "and I'm still awaiting your surrender."

Khan's patience was at an end. This impudent female needed to be put in her place.

"Helmsman, open fire on that ship," snarled Khan, "phasers at full power!"

Khan leaned forward in his throne, anticipating the destruction of the Endurance.

Nothing happened.

"I gave you an order!" he shouted. "Destroy that ship!"

"I..I'm trying, my lord," came the reply, "but weapons systems aren't responding. None of our systems are except life support and communications. The Leviathan is dead in the water!"

Khan hit the comms button in his throne's armrest.

"All other ships," he yelled, "obey your Emperor and fire on that enemy vessel!"

Again, nothing happened.

"All ships are reporting complete failure of their systems," said Captain Adamant, sounding fearful, "and none of the doomsday machines are responding to commands."

Khan slumped back in his throne. This was impossible. Captain Coleman had deployed no weapons, yet somehow she had neutralised the finest ships in the Empire's fleet. But all was not yet lost. He still had one ace to play.

"Send the signal out to all our sleeper agents. It's time for them to rise up and destroy Starfleet from within. If the woman thinks she's won here she has another think coming. Monitor all news and Starfleet channels. I want to follow the uprising as it happens."

For the following hour they did just that, Khan refusing calls from his restive captains all the while, until he was forced to accept the truth.

"There's been no uprising, my lord," said Captain Adamant. "None of our agents have responded to the call, none at all."

The viewscreen sprang back to life. Once again it showed Captain Coleman on her bridge.

"You've had long enough to consider your position, 'your majesty'." she said. "Now I need to dispose of those nasty doomsday machines of your. First those to your starboard I think."

The viewscreen switched to a split image, one half showing Grace Coleman and the other the doomsday machines. The captain snapped her fingers and explosions could be seen taking place deep in the maw of each. Then, one-by-one, they started to crumple, crushed by the unleashed power of the miniature black hole at their heart, until all that remained were super-compressed balls of matter.

"Now for those to your port," said Grace, snapping the fingers of her other hand.

Once again the process repeated itself, until all six of the doomsday machines had been destroyed.

Sitting on his throne, Khan could barely accept what he had just witnessed. Entire worlds had been bankrupted to finance the construction of the doomsday machines. They were supposed to make the Empire invincible, an unstoppable force. Now they were all just so much scrap.

"I'm ready to accept your surrender now, Emperor," said Grace.

Khan had promised his captains one of the quickest wars in history, and it had been. He just hadn't expected it to end like this.

"Before that can happen we have to determine if I am to remain Emperor," said Khan, wiping nervous sweat from his brow. "After such a defeat I have to offer the challenge. It is our way."

At all levels of the Empire's military you progressed by killing your superiors and, rightly, the Emperor was not exempt from this. Only council members and starship captains had the standing to challenge for the throne. The council wasn't here, but his captains were, not that he actually expected any of them to challenge him. In the decades Khan had been Emperor he had never been successfully challenged. He doubted that any of his captains believed they could take him, even now. Their faces appeared on the Leviathan's viewscreen.

"Well?" he said. "Does anyone choose to challenge me?"

There was a sudden bright light, and somebody materialised on the bridge.

"I do," said the newcomer.

"You?!" said Khan. "How can it be you?"


	9. Chapter 9

\- 9 -

I'd demanded to know what was going on on Camus II, but instead of telling me there and then Spock called a meeting where, he assured me, everything would be explained.

"You just need to remain patient a little longer and all will become clear."

And what a meeting it was. First, Kate Shaw brought in mirror-Spock and mirror-Uhura, who actually gasped on seeing me, her hand going to her mouth. I had no opportunity to enquire why because seconds later, before introductions could even be made, in walked Bones McCoy with...my wife?

"Janice?" said Janice Rand, coming over to me. "What are you doing here, sweetie?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said as we hugged.

"Janice Rand is here because I wanted a neutral observer I trusted with me when I came to inspect this infernal place on behalf of the Surgeon-General's office," said Bones. "After some persuading she agreed to accompany me."

"I wasn't his first choice, and I wouldn't have told you I was going to Camus II even if I was allowed to," Janice said to me. "I was worried it would trigger painful memories for you."

"And Dr Lester is here at my request," said Spock, covering for me. "As the person who found the alien bodyswapping device and first uncovered its secrets, I believed it possible she could provide further insights into its operation."

I saw Kate Shaw raise an eyebrow at this, but she said nothing.

Mirror-Uhura had been staring at me since her arrival, bursting to let something out. Now she did.

"You swapped bodies with your Jim Kirk!" she said. "Just as happened in our universe."

"Interesting," said mirror-Spock, regarding me through narrowed eyes, weighing me up.

I was intrigued by this news about their Jim Kirk and had questions about his fate, but for now there were more important ones I needed answers to. I turned to Spock.

"It's time you explained what's going on in this facility. Don't leave anything out."

"Very well. It began eight years ago at Khitomer. After the Enterprise and her crew foiled the attempt by dissident Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, and humans led by Admiral Cartwright to sabotage the peace conference, I was approached by Starfleet Intelligence who wished to know what my plans were now that the Enterprise was to be decommissioned. It had been my intention to become a diplomat. They convinced me to delay this."

"Why?"

"They believed that though the ring-leaders had been rounded up the conspiracy went far deeper, that there were still those in Starfleet and elsewhere actively opposed to peace. They gave this group the code name 'Ares', and wanted me to take charge of rooting it out. I agreed with their assessment and accepted the task. I chose Camus II as the logical place to establish my command, then had covert Starfleet Intelligence officers placed on every ship in the fleet in order to do so. Lieutenant Commander Shaw was that officer on the USS Spencer. At the time they recruited me, neither Starfleet Intelligence nor I realised that behind Ares was another entity with an agenda of its own."

"The Empire?"

"Exactly so," said mirror-Spock. "The Empire invented a means of sending people across to this universe in ones and twos to infiltrate Starfleet. When their agent had a counterpart here that counterpart would be killed and the agent would take his place. When they didn't, those already here would establish new identities for them. The first two agents sent over were Lawrence Cartwright and Jenna Lawson. Having replaced the real admiral, Cartwright had Ms Lawson assigned to your USS Enterprise, where I'm told she later perished in an accident. Meanwhile, Cartwright founded Ares."

"So he killed the real Admiral Cartwright?"

"No, in that instance they were able to smuggle him back to my universe, where he was killed by Khan."

"Khan? You mean Khan Noonien Singh?"

"Yes. In my universe he is the Emperor. Although my brother, First Minister Sybok, was in charge of the infiltration program, it would be many years before I learned how extensive it was."

"Why?"

"Sybok was secretly a Vulcan separatist. He was eventually betrayed and executed. As his brother I naturally came under suspicion as well. We had never been close and I had not known of his political leanings, so there was nothing to find. Nonetheless, from that point on my ship and I were given missions that kept us well away from the center of power. A few months ago I was contacted by someone who supplied me with a pair of the harnesses used to cross between our universes and a complete list of Empire agents who had been sent here in the past three decades. It would have been unwise to attempt to cross between Earths, so my wife and I used the harnesses to cross between Vulcans."

"Your...wife?" I said, staring at mirror-Uhura.

She inclined her head and gave a little smile.

"News of their arrival on Vulcan was relayed to me," said Spock. "I arranged for them to be sent here to Camus II, where I personally debriefed them. As soon as I understood the magnitude of the threat to the Federation, I had Lawrence Cartwright brought here from the penal planet where he was serving his sentence so that I could interrogate him further, and Khan's brainwashing device sent from Nevada."

"How did you convince Starfleet Command to go along with this?" I asked. "Why would they accept the word of someone from the mirror universe?"

"All the Empire's agents over here have sub-dermal communicators that enable them to communicate with each other without Starfleet knowing about it," said Spock. "Their covert communications were riding on personal communications carrier beams, lost in all the chatter."

I snapped my fingers.

"Ah, so *that's* the 'operational reason' why ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore private communication channels have been suspended for the past few months!"

"That is correct," said mirror-Spock. "The sub-dermal communicators were undetectable by the Federation until I supplied the means to do so. This enabled Starfleet to confirm the veracity of the list I supplied."

"The size of that list and the names on it caused a great deal of concern," said my Spock. "After three decades of infiltration, more than half of Starfleet ship's captains and their senior officers were Empire sleeper agents. To arrest them all and relieve them of their duties would have left Starfleet gravely vulnerable."

"So instead you had Khan's damned device shipped here, set up bogus training sessions, then brainwashed them into believing they'd always been loyal servants of the Federation!" said McCoy, not even trying to hide the outrage in his voice.

"What else would you have had us do, doctor?" asked Spock. "This was the only solution to the problem that did not leave the Federation dangerously unprotected. We are not using the device to completely overwrite personalities as Khan did, just to alter loyalties."

"That's more than enough! What you believe is a core part of who you are!"

"There were ten sleeper agents on the USS Trafalgar," said Janice Rand, "including the captain, first officer, transporter chief, and chief engineer."

Bones looked at Janice with disappointment in his eyes.

"My god, have you all forgotten your history?" he cried "When Khan used that device on his enemies we called it a war crime, and rightly so. If it was a war crime when he used it then it's a war crime when we do. And don't talk to me about 'situational ethics' either. Situational ethics be damned. Something can't be both a war crime when others do it and acceptable when we do, it just can't. Federation exceptionalism doesn't exempt us from the norms of civilised conduct."

"These people are spies, not enemy combatants, Bo... doctor," I said, "and almost every society with a martial tradition has always treated soldiers and spies differently. Also, for there to be a war crime don't we actually have to be at war first?"

"Lee Forrest was one of the sleeper agents," said Kate Shaw. "He wasn't only my captain, he was my friend. I introduced him to his wife, and I'm godparent to their twin daughters. I'm still having a hard time getting my head around the idea that this man who's been a loyal Starfleet officer for the past fifteen years, with a distinguished service record, would have turned on Starfleet the instant the Emperor ordered him to. Yet I have to believe it, because his name was on the list and he has a sub-dermal communicator. Khan's machine has changed things so that he's now the loyal Starfleet officer we all believed him to be. If the alternative is imprisonment, his daughters losing their father, and his family being disgraced, I'm OK with that."

"The point is moot now anyway, doctor," said Spock. "The device has been sabotaged and is no longer operational."

"Sorry about that," I said, sheepishly.

"Don't be," said McCoy, firmly. "You did the right thing, Janice. And now, if no one has any objections, I'd like to check on the prisoners you're still holding to ensure they're being treated properly."

"As you wish, doctor. Ms Shaw, please accompany Dr McCoy and see that he comes to no harm."

"Yes, sir," said Kate.

The pair turned and left. For a moment there was silence in the room.

"A passionate man, your Dr McCoy," said mirror-Spock.

"Indeed," said Spock. "In that as in so many other ways, the good doctor is unfortunately all too human."


	10. Chapter 10

\- 10 -

To the credit of the crew of the USS Endurance, the appearance on their viewscreen of the Empire fleet and its six doomsday machines did not cause panic on the bridge. It did, however cause some concern.

"Should we raise shields and go to battle stations?" asked Reyna Skullcrusher.

"Negative," said Grace Coleman.

"Captain?"

"As you were, Ms Crusher."

"The lead ship is hailing us, captain," said Zoe Nyonga.

"Onscreen, Ms Nyonga."

An image of the Empire ship's bridge appeared on the viewscreen. Sitting in a throne behind the captain's chair was a man Grace recognised from her studies at Starfleet Academy. Beside him standing next to that throne was a small girl.

"Hello, Federation ship. This is the ISS Leviathan, flagship of the imperial fleet, and I am Emperor Khan Noonien Singh."

"I am Captain Grace Coleman of the USS Endurance, and we know who you are. Starfleet had a couple of run-ins with your counterpart over here, which he lost. The last resulted in his death."

"Careful, woman," said Khan, menacingly, "It isn't wise to try and provoke me. If you and your crew hope to survive you will now kneel before Khan, just as your entire United Federation of Planets soon will."

"That will not be happening," said Grace. "I'm afraid you appear to be labouring under a misapprehension. Starfleet didn't send me here to bend a knee. They sent me here to accept your surrender."

A low murmur went around the bridge. They trusted their captain, but this was suicidal.

"Are you mad, woman? You're facing a vastly superior force and you haven't even raised your shields or gone to battle stations."

This wasn't an assessment Grace's crew could argue with.

"I don't need to," replied, Grace, "and I'm still awaiting your surrender."

Khan looked as if he was about to explode.

"Helmsman, open fire on that ship," he snarled, "phasers at full power!"

Khan leaned forward in his throne, clearly anticipating their destruction.

Nothing happened.

"I gave you an order!" he shouted. "Destroy that ship!"

"I..I'm trying, my lord," came the reply, "but weapons systems aren't responding. None of our systems are except life support and communications. The Leviathan is dead in the water!"

Khan hit the comms button in his throne's armrest.

"All other ships," he yelled, "obey your Emperor and fire on that enemy vessel!"

Again, nothing happened.

"All ships are reporting complete failure of their systems," said the ship's captain, sounding fearful, "and none of the doomsday machines are responding to commands."

That was when Leviathan killed the link and the image on the viewscreen reverted to showing the space in front of Endurance, with the Empire ships arrayed before them.

"What just happened?" said Kevin Okuda, speaking for the rest of the bridge crew. "How did you do that?"

"If and when I'm allowed to tell you more I will," said Grace. "Suffice it to say that when I took the call in my ready room ordering us to Charon, I was also informed of the Empire threat and how I should respond to it."

"You knew they were coming?" said Michael Shaw, in his clipped English accent. "That's not possible!"

"Starfleet Intelligence knew. My orders came directly from them."

"Since when do we take orders from Starfleet Intelligence? asked Reyna.

"Since Headquarters directed us to. This one is Starfleet Intelligence's play, and I trust the man in charge of the operation implicitly. You would too if you knew who that was."

Michael Shaw suddenly leapt to his feet and turned to face Grace, phaser in hand. Before he could fire it he was felled by a phaser stun blast from Zoe Nyonga.

"I was waiting for him to try something like that," she said.

"Were you indeed?" said Grace. "I think when this is all over you and I are going to have to have a long conversation Ms Nyonga, not least about what you and he were doing on my bridge armed with phasers."

By the time security officers had come and taken her navigator away Grace was ready to contact the Leviathan again.

"Reestablish contact, Ms Nyonga. It's time to put this to bed."

The viewscreen sprang back to life. Once again it showed Khan on his bridge. If anything, he looked even more concerned.

"You've had long enough to consider your position, 'your majesty'," said Grace. "Now I need to dispose of those nasty doomsday machines of yours."

When Grace destroyed the doomsday machines merely by snapping her fingers, the bridge crew stared at their captain in awe, and not a little fear. They knew there were no weapons on board Endurance capable of the feats they had just witnessed, so it appeared Grace had somehow acquired powers far beyond those of ordinary mortals.

"I'm ready to accept your surrender now, Emperor," said Grace.

"Before that can happen we have to determine if I am to remain Emperor," said Khan. "After such a defeat I have to offer the challenge. It is our way."

The faces of his starship captains appeared on the viewscreen.

"Well?" he said to them. "Does anyone choose to challenge me?"

There was a sudden bright light, and somebody materialised on the bridge.

"I do," said the newcomer.

"You?!" said Khan. "How can it be you? Your ship is supposed to be out beyond Vulcan."

"As indeed it is," said mirror-Spock. "But one of your other captains suspected this incursion would not go well. He smuggled me aboard his ship so that I could challenge you if and when the time came."

Spock was already stripped to the waist, the grey of his chest hairs mirroring the grey in his hair and beard.

"Very well," said Khan, rising from his throne and tearing off his own shirt, "challenge accepted."

The Leviathan had a large open area between the helm and the viewscreen and it was here that the two circled each other, while the assembled captains looked down on them from that viewscreen.

Khan made the first move, leaping at Spock with terrifying speed. Fast as he was Spock was faster. He threw Khan aside with almost contemptuous ease. As Khan got to his feet the concern on his face was plain for all to see. With that one move Spock had demonstrated he was the stronger and faster of the two. Khan feinted, drawing Spock in, then lashed out, his hand flat, slashing it across Spock's chest as if it was a blade. And just as a blade would it drew blood, a thin red line appearing. Khan grinned triumphantly, as if this move had given him the edge in their combat. He was quickly disabused of that notion. When they engaged again Spock was as strong and fast as before. Panic appeared in Khan's eyes, but it was too late. Spock got him in a headlock then wrenched his head around with great force, snapping his neck.

As Spock stood over Khan's body so the shouts of the other captains started to ring out:

"Hail Spock! Hail Spock! Hail Spock! Hail Spock! Hail Spock!"

He was now their Emperor. He turned to the viewscreen and addressed Grace.

"I am ready to negotiate the terms of our surrender," he said. "Myself and one other will transport aboard your ship."

"Acknowledged," said Grace, breaking contact.

"A pity," said Reyna, arms folded across her chest. "I had hoped for battle so that I could send many of the enemy to meet their ancestors."

"Perhaps next time, Reyna," chuckled Grace. "Zoe, contact Starfleet and tell them we're ready to have them send the USS Vladivostok and the USS Montreal to babysit the Empire fleet while we're gone. They've been on standby, waiting to hear from us."

"Aye aye, captain."

That just left one more thing to do.

"Mr Okuda, as soon as our guests are on board set a course for Camus II."


	11. Chapter 11

-11 -

Lawrence Cartwright was bored and frustrated. At first, being transferred from that dreary little penal planet to Camus II had seemed a blessed relief. That had lasted until he got here and discovered Starfleet had finally learned of the Empire's infiltration program. Director Spock had had a lot of questions for him and those early, forced mind melds had been brutal, yet he had resisted them. The last of these had been several weeks ago, but bad as they were he'd have welcomed one now if only for the distraction it would provide. It appeared he was no longer of much interest to his captors. Save for at meal times and daily exercise sessions he rarely saw anyone else, and he had long since tired of reading and watching vids. His captivity would be more bearable if he was able to speak to the occupant of the cell next to his. An attractive young yeoman, she was the only other person currently being held in the cells, but damping fields made communication between them impossible. Their jailers clearly didn't want to risk prisoners colluding on an escape plan.

Cartwright was thinking about this, and lamenting the fact that modern cells had force screens rather than bars, when he received a pair of visitors. On seeing that one of them was Dr Leonard McCoy, he smiled. His prayers had been answered. The other person, a stern looking security officer armed with a phaser, hung back while McCoy deactivated the damping field so that they could hear each other.

"I see you brought your medical bag, doctor."

"Just a precaution," said McCoy, "in case you were feeling unwell. How are they treating you?"

"Well enough. I'm not being abused, but I am being ignored. What I'm craving most, however, is news of the outside world."

"A lot of what's going on at the moment is classified so I'm afraid I can't do much about that."

"You'd be surprised, doctor. Override Mississippi accept."

At these words, which activated a post-hypnotic command placed in his mind long ago, Dr McCoy snapped to attention and stared straight ahead, his eyes vacant."

"Override Mississippi accepted," he replied, his voice flat. "What are my orders?"

"First, relax so that your companion doesn't get suspicious, then tell me what the big secret of this planet is that no one will talk about. I know it's not bio-weapons."

"Thirty years ago xenoarchaeologist Dr Janice Lester discovered an alien device here that swaps bodies."

"Swaps bodies? I thought that was impossible."

"So did we, but the long-dead inhabitants of Camus II discovered how."

Cartwright rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Interesting, *very* interesting," he said. "Now tell me any and all recent news that would be of interest to me."

"The Empire invaded Federation space and was defeated, after which Emperor Khan was challenged by someone who appeared to be your Spock. Spock killed him, and is now the new emperor."

Cartwright was stunned by the news. With all their planning and decades of preparation how could the Empire be defeated? It didn't seem possible. And Spock was *emperor* now? This was a disaster. Even before coming to this universe rumours had reached him of Spock's pacifist tendencies, tendencies that if true would destroy the Empire. No, Spock had to be deposed, and quickly.

"Wait. How do you know all this and what did you mean by 'appeared to be'?"

"On my way to the cells Director Spock contacted me via my communicator. He had just learned that your Spock had bested Khan in hand-to-hand combat and was now on his way to Camus II to formally negotiate the surrender of Empire forces. But your Spock has already been here for several weeks. How can he be in two places at once?"

Cartwright frowned. He didn't understand any of this, but it was clear that the Empire had somehow been betrayed by Spock.

"Where is my Spock now?"

"He and his wife are meeting with the Director in his office."

"Is there anyone else with them?"

"Yes, Dr Janice Lester and her wife, Janice Rand."

"Good, good, I don't see them being a problem at their age. I'll have killed Spock before they realise what's happening. Now prepare a mild sedative then lower the force screen. Your companion will come over to investigate. When she does, inject her with it and await further orders."

McCoy did as instructed, loading a sedative into his hypospray. Then he deactivated the cell's force screen.

Out of respect for doctor/patient confidentiality Kate Shaw had hung back and so had heard none of the exchange between the two, but when McCoy opened the cell she took her phaser from her hip and stepped forward.

"You know you shouldn't do that until I have the prisoner covered with my phaser, doctor," she admonished him.

That was when McCoy struck. As soon as she was close enough, he turned and pressed the hypospray to the side of Kate's neck. The effect was instant. No sooner had the sedative shot into her system that she crumpled to the floor, the phaser falling from her nerveless fingers.

"How long will she be out?" asked Cartwright, exiting his cell and scooping up her phaser.

"About ten minutes."

"Perfect. Help me lift her to her feet. We have work to do."

When they had done so, he noticed the woman in the next cell signalling to him and turned off its damping field.

"Release me!" she said.

"What's your name?"

"Jill Finn."

"I'd love to release you, Jill Finn, but it's better for my plan and better for the Empire that you stay where you are for now. I'll send the doctor here to release you when I'm ready, okay?"

"If it's for the Empire," she said, clearly not happy about this.

Cartwright gave the Empire salute.

"Long live the Empire!"

"Long live the Empire!" shouted Jill, responding in kind.

It was fortunate both that this facility was so sparsely staffed and that their destination lay so close to the cells.

"Do you know how to operate the alien bodyswapping device?" asked Cartwright as they carried the unconscious Kate Shaw between them.

"I believe so, yes," said McCoy. "I've seen it used and its operation seems relatively straightforward."

"Good, because I need you to swap my body for that of the Lieutenant Commander here. That way I'll be able to get close enough to Spock to kill him."


	12. Chapter 12

\- 12 -

"So you're a copy of our Spock, and for three decades your consciousness resided in an android body designed to look like a little girl?" said Grace Coleman, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"That is correct," said the man sitting on the other side of the conference room table, the 'Spock' Grace had watched kill Emperor Khan and take his throne.

"A small, female child is the image humans use to depict non-threatening innocence," said Kara Summers, the striking young woman who had beamed over to the Endurance with Spock, "so it was the logical form to house his consciousness during that time. That form and the apparent mother/daughter relationship we let them believe existed between us allowed humans to think they understood us. They did not. The AIs I developed for the Empire, and which were incorporated into the operating systems of the doomsday machines and all Empire starships were non-sentient copies of his mind. They operated perfectly for over two decades and the Empire came to trust and depend on them, but Spock always had the ability to override them at any point."

"When our Spock at Starfleet Intelligence briefed me about the coming invasion and told me how he needed me to respond I thought he must be mad at first," said Grace, "particularly when he told me the little act he wanted me to put on to direct attention from your destruction of Khan's prized weapons systems."

"That misdirection was necessary for our plan to succeed."

"It seemed overly theatrical to me, but after seeing how you disabled the Empire fleet I trusted you to follow through on that, too. The look on Khan's face when he saw his weapons systems apparently destroyed by someone just snapping her fingers was priceless. Still, it would have been nice to have known in advance that those weapons systems were doomsday machines."

"You had to appear surprised to discover that," said Kara. "Had you not, the Empire spy on Endurance could have suspected advance knowledge on your part and found a way to warn the Emperor."

"We had anticipated the defeat of the invasion force would compel Khan to allow a leadership challenge and had prepared this body in advance," said Spock. "After the destruction of the doomsday machines, I left the bridge of the ISS Leviathan and went to its place of concealment on that ship. Once I had transferred my consciousness and vaporised my previous body with a phaser, it was a simple matter to then transport to the bridge."

"How did Khan cut you across the chest? Were his finger nails really that sharp?"

"No. He had a small device embedded in the tip of one of his fingers that would deliver a dose of a neuro-toxin designed to slow an opponent down enough to give Khan the upper hand in any physical combat. He did not know I was an android and thus would not be affected."

"So he cheated?"

"I believe Khan would have expressed it in terms of the superior man leaving nothing to chance."

"I know you leaked the list of Empire infiltrators when the time was right for you, but I wish I'd known Michael Shaw was an Empire agent before Zoe Nyonga took him down."

"Not just any agent," said Kara. "He's the son of Emperor Spock and his wife."

"What?" said Grace, blind-sided by this information. "B..but he's white, he looks entirely human, and he has an English accent!"

"The accent is as fake as his name. As for his skin tone and apparently human physiognomy, those are just the physical characteristics he happened to inherit from his mixed genetic background. He's one of four sons, the others of whom are all both darker-skinned and more obviously Vulcan. He's also the only one who's a big believer in the Empire. Your ship being chosen to face us was not an accident because now you are not only taking us to his parents but also him, albeit in your brig. That was part of the deal for securing the help of our Spock and Uhura."

This was a lot to take in, but Grace had another question.

"I don't understand your part in all this, Kara," she said. "Why would you work against the Empire at all? And why use Spock's consciousness as the basis for the AIs rather than your own?"

"Because my creators, the Haakuun, made me so that my consciousness cannot be used in that fashion. As for the Empire, my first loyalty is to the man who found me on my dead world, Sybok. I have always worked diligently in furtherance of his aims. An opportunity to do so arose with the elaborate plot whereby we stole your Spock's brain and took it to Sigma Draconis VI to make a copy of it. The Empire's purpose in doing so was, in essence, to 'capture' a Starfleet officer with no one being any the wiser and then interrogate him endlessly. However, I saw that here was the opportunity I had been looking for. If we could take possession of this copy of Spock's mind when the Empire had finished with it, I knew I could use it to create the AIs I needed. And since Spock was loyal to the Federation I was sure he would go along with our plan."

"Now all that remains is for me to switch places with the Empire's real Spock as planned and for him to assume the role of Emperor."

"What happens to you after that?"

"With the doomsday machines destroyed and Spock on the throne the Empire cannot continue as it has, so our job is done," said Kara. "The Haakuun are gone in my universe, but perhaps not in yours. When all others have returned to the Empire's universe, I will remain in this one to search for them."

"As will I," said Spock. "My apparent age is purely cosmetic. I will amend this body so I appear as Spock did when I was copied from him. I will then accompany Kara on her quest. We are two artificial and potentially ageless beings. It is logical for us to travel together."

The buzzer on the intercom desk unit sounded.

"Yes, what is it?" said Grace.

"Reyna here. Sorry to bother you captain, but we've just discovered a shuttlecraft is missing."

"Why wasn't this discovered earlier?"

"Ship's systems were altered so that its departure would neither be registered nor detected."

"Do we know who took it?"

"The only crewmembers missing are Commander Lester and Lieutenant Cassandra."

"Lieutenant Cassandra?" said Grace, trying to place the name.

"Transferred from the Lexington last year, captain," said Reyna. "She's an Aragonian, a blue-skinned humanoid. She recently had Dr Saavik surgically alter her claws to resemble human hands."

"What were her duties on Endurance?"

"She was in charge of the shuttle bay."

"Convenient. Did they take anything with them?"

"Doctor Saavik reports a supply of melaninox missing from sickbay."

"Melaninox? I wonder what they could want with that? Well, the Endurance is heading to Camus II at maximum warp so there's nothing we can do about it now. Find out anything else you can and prepare a report for me. Coleman out."

"Problems?" asked Kara.

"Maybe. Janice Lester is - or claimed to be - both a time displaced version of my mother from another universe, and married to James T. Kirk."

"I recall Jim telling me - or rather my progenitor - about Ms Lester and their time together at Starfleet Academy," said Spock. "If she's your mother, does that mean that Jim is..."

"My father? God, no! Arthur Coleman was my father. I'm not related to Jim Kirk at all!"


	13. Chapter 13

\- 13 -

McCoy pressed his hypospray to Kate Shaw's arm, injecting something that would counter the effects of the sedative he'd administered earlier. Almost immediately she began to revive, becoming groggily aware they were in the cave on Camus II that housed the bodyswapping machine. Around them lay the smashed remains of several recording devices.

"Help me get the Lieutenant Commander into position," said Lawrence Cartwright, an order McCoy was compelled to obey.

As soon as she was standing on one of the two pads, McCoy flicked the switch that froze her in place. Kate was paralysed now. She would be unable to move until the process was over. Cartwright stepped onto the other pad.

"Let's do this," he said, feeling apprehensive but determined to do what needed to be done.

No sooner had McCoy pressed a switch on a console next to the machine, than Cartwright felt an awful tugging sensation all through his body, as if something was being ripped from it. There was a brief moment when he seemed to be looking through two pairs of eyes, then he was looking through only one pair.

"It's done," said McCoy.

Cartwright raised a slender hand to his face, marvelling at how smooth the skin was, how white. He ran his fingers over the unfamiliar contours of his new face, while with his other hand he tentatively squeezed his firm young breasts. Even knowing it was going to happen, it was still stunning to realize he was now a woman in her twenties. This was going to require some serious adjustment on his part!

McCoy pressed another button on the console and, freed from the paralysis that had held her in place, Kate Shaw toppled forward. She steadied herself against the side of the device, so drained she was barely able to move. That was when she first caught sight of her aged, dark-skinned hand.

"Wh..what..?" she croaked.

Then she raised her eyes to see someone looking at her in fascination. It took a second for it to register this was her own body.

"No!" she cried, eyes widening in horror.

Cartwright grinned.

"Yes!" he replied, raising her phaser and firing.

It wasn't set to vaporize only to kill, which it did. Kate Shaw died instantly.

Cartwright looked down dispassionately at what had until a few minutes ago been his body, before stepping over it to get to McCoy. He placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder.

"Prepare a lethal dose of something guaranteed to kill - I'll let you decide what - and load it into your medical hypospray. Return to the cells, free Jill Finn, and give this to her. Tell her she is to use it to kill this facility's medic, Doctor Abdullah on my orders. After doing so you will go to my cell, sit down, and stay there. You will be unable to speak or to move unless I return and tell you otherwise. Ordinarily this is the point where I'd instruct you to forget everything you've done, but I *want* you to remember. Now go."

When McCoy had gone, Cartwright ran his hands down over his new body. Having the energy of youth again was glorious and he felt amazing, but damn those female curves were going to take some getting used to! Still, there would be time to worry about that stuff after he had completed his mission.

Slapping the phaser to his thigh, he set off for Director Spock's office and his appointment with murder. Emperor Spock was his primary target, but if all went well he should be able to kill the others in the room and any guards, too. After destroying all recording devices and with no one left to identify him as the killer he could then slip away, join the crew of the USS Spencer, and depart this planet with no one aware he wasn't the real Kate Shaw.

At first Cartwright was uncertain of his gait. Walk as he always had and he might seem mannish, but swing his hips even a little too much and it would look 'swishy'. Eventually he realised it was better to just relax and let this body's 'muscle memory' take over.

When he reached the Director's quarters there was a guard stationed outside. Not surprising given the room now contained the Empire's new Emperor, and so about as important a dignitary as had ever set foot on this rock. Fortunately Cartwright recognised the guard from the time he had brought his meals to his cell.

"Good afternoon, Murphy," he said.

The guard snapped to attention.

"Lieutenant Commander," he said, opening the door.

Inside, Cartwright found Director Spock, Emperor Spock and his wife, and two middle-aged women. One of these he recognised as an older version of Janice Lester aka Jenna Lawson, the woman he had travelled to this universe with decades ago, which meant the other had to be Janice Rand.

"Dr McCoy not with you?" said Lester, frowning at him.

"The doctor was feeling tired and returned to his room to lie down," replied Cartwright, smoothly.

They seemed to accept this and returned to their conversation. As soon as no one was looking at him, Cartwright drew his phaser and fired it at Emperor Spock.

The beam never hit him.

At the last second Janice Lester threw herself between him and the Emperor, taking its full force.

"Janice!" screamed Janice Rand, lunging for Cartwright before her wife's body had even hit the ground. She, too, took the full force of his phaser. He swung it around to target the Emperor again, but it was too late. He felt someone pinch the nerve cluster near the base of his neck and then he went down, unconscious.


	14. Chapter 14

\- 14 -

Grace Coleman stared down at the bodies of Janice Lester and Janice Rand on the mortuary slab, face grim.

"And there was no way to save them?"

"There was not," said Spock. "Both were critically injured but might have been saved had Doctor Abdullah or Doctor McCoy been available. Unfortunately, Doctor Abdullah had been murdered by Yeoman Jill Finn, and Doctor McCoy was in a hypnotic trance we have as yet been unable to break him out of. We believe this was deliberate, the assailant having removed the doctors so that if he did not succeed in killing his target, only in injuring him, those wounds might still prove fatal."

"By 'the assailant' you mean the former Admiral Cartwright."

"That is correct. He had stolen Lieutenant Commander Shaw's body, as we confirmed when we discovered his own, dead body in front of this planet's alien bodyswapping device. Your biological mother grew suspicious when she saw he was wearing his phaser on his right thigh rather than the left, as Kate Shaw always did. She was watching him from the corner of her eye and so was able to save the Emperor's life when Lawrence Cartwright made his move."

Grace sighed. When the Endurance arrived at Camus II this was the very last thing she had expected to find. What were her mothers even doing here?

"I'll have the bodies shipped back to Earth for burial, of course."

"Thank you," she said. "I think you'd better take me to meet them now.

"As you wish," said Spock.

He led her to a room where two young women awaited her: Kate Shaw and Jill Finn. They snapped to attention when she entered.

"At ease," said Grace. "Well look at you both. You're younger than me now. How does it feel to be in your twenties again?"

"Amazing!" said Kate Shaw, and with that the two rushed over to Grace and they all hugged.

"While we could do nothing to repair the injuries suffered by Janice Lester and Janice Rand there was another solution," said Spock. "We had two healthy young Empire agents in custody, both of them murderers. So I followed the logical course of action. Dr McCoy would have had an ethical problem with using the alien bodyswapping device on this planet to have your mothers live on while they died in their place. I did not."

"Neither do I," said Grace. "Thank you, Director Spock, thank you so much."

"And now that you finally know about the device there's nothing preventing me from telling you why your father and I ended up being confined to Earth for so long," said Kate.

"You mean you've been here before?"

"Yes. It was Arthur and I who first discovered the device and figured out its operation. We used it to swap my body with Jim Kirk's so that I could take over the Enterprise."

"You did *what*? Why?"

"Because at that time no woman had been appointed captain of a starship in twenty years, and I had always desperately wanted to be a starship captain. Jim eventually got his body back, of course. I was judged insane and sent to Elba II. I later convinced Jim to let them use the brainwashing device on me that Khan - our Khan - had utilized during the Eugenics Wars in order to overwrite my original personality with a modified one I created that was less obsessive and destructive. I was then released to Earth, where Jim interceded with the tribunal on behalf of Arthur so that he wouldn't be sent to a penal planet. Instead we were both confined to Earth."

"Everyone in that courtroom and everyone who had ever heard of the bodyswapping device was sworn to secrecy," said Jill. "It was considered a military secret of the highest order, which is why we were never able to tell you about it before this."

"Wow," said Grace, looking stunned. "Just wow!"

"That's not all," said Kate. "The link the device forged between us obviously remained in some fashion because when Jim Kirk was killed by that mysterious energy ribbon I started getting his memories. At first I thought I must be going mad, but over the course of a year I gradually acquired his memories. All of them. And some of his character traits."

"So *that's* why you got more assertive all of a sudden," said Jill. "I wondered what had happened. You always used to be such a femme, but not anymore."

"There's now the matter of what to do with you both," said Spock. "You cannot return to the USS Spencer because while you have the bodies of Jill Finn and Kate Shaw you have none of their memories and would soon find yourselves under suspicion. That just leaves Starfleet Intelligence or..."

"I'm taking them," said Grace, firmly. "I'll approve their transfer to the Endurance immediately. If Kate does indeed have the memories, skills and confidence of Jim Kirk she's more than capable of being my First Officer and leading away missions. It's a shame Jill's only a yeoman, though. Mom Janice Rand started as a yeoman, but she's way more experienced than that now."

"That will not be a problem," said Spock. "I will affirm that Ms Finn has been working undercover for Starfleet Intelligence all along and in fact holds the rank of lieutenant. I will create the appropriate records to support this story."

"Then that's settled," said Grace. "Two of the three women I've admired most in my life is a great addition to my crew. I'm only sorry Uhura couldn't be here, too."

"Ah," said Kate, "about that..."


	15. Chapter 15

\- 15 -

It has been three months since Jill and I joined the crew of the USS Endurance, three months of discovering each other anew and falling in love all over again as the new people we are. Now, with our daughter standing before us, I knew there was nowhere else in this universe I'd rather be.

"One of the more pleasant duties of ship's captains since the age of sail," said Grace, "is presiding over shipboard weddings. It is a duty I happily discharge today for this young couple. Jill and Kate are new to the Endurance having both only recently transferred from the USS Spencer. Both have quickly become a part of our family and we gather here today, their friends and colleagues, to witness their union."

"Do you, Katelyn Athena Shaw take Jillian Morwenna Finn to be your spouse in accordance with the laws of the United Federation of Planets, to love and to cherish her for as long as you both are together?"

"I do," I said, and I would. With all my heart.

"And do you, Jillian Morwenna Finn take Katelyn Athena Shaw to be your spouse in accordance with the laws of the United Federation of Planets, to love and to cherish her for as long as you both are together?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me by the aforementioned United Federation of Planets, I declare you wed. You may now both kiss your wife."

We did, and everyone in the room cheered.

Later, in the captain's quarters, we had a private little celebration, just Grace, Jill, Zoe Nyonga and me. Zoe had brought Saurian brandy.

"I always wanted to join in when the three of you got together and Aunt Uhura brought the brandy," said Grace as Zoe poured her a glass, "and now I get to."

"You were a little girl when we got married the first time," I said. "Now you not only married us but you're our commanding officer. It's a funny old universe, sometimes."

"To the brides!" said Zoe.

"The brides!" agreed Grace, and we drank our toast.

"It's a shame Grant couldn't be here to celebrate with us," I said, wistfully.

"Our son has no connection to Jill Finn and Kate Shaw so it would've been hard to explain his presence," said Jill. "We weren't even supposed to let him know we're still alive because that meant revealing the existence of the bodyswapping machine to him."

"I wasn't going to put him through all that grief when we buried the bodies of Janice Lester and Janice Rand," said Grace, firmly, "not my little brother. If Starfleet find out what I did and want to court-martial me, let them."

"Quite right, too, Gracie," I said, laying a hand on her arm before changing the subject. "What's the latest from the Leviathan?"

We had allowed the Empire fleet to return to their universe but had kept their flagship for ourselves as a prize of war.

"What we're learning from her is going to advance starship design by decades," said Grace.

"Good. That means at least we'll get something out of all this. I can't believe Starfleet slapped a security blanket over the whole affair, that as far as history will be concerned this never happened and we were never invaded."

"Can you blame them?" said Jill. "If they didn't they'd have to reveal that a significant number of senior Starfleet officers are actually agents of a foreign power brainwashed into being loyal to the Federation with a device whose use has been prosecuted as a war crime."

"I suppose," I said. "I still think Spock made the right call there, though."

"I agree," said Grace, "but I think it's weighing on him. Word is that he's resigning from Starfleet Intelligence and joining the UFP Diplomatic Corps."

"Good," said Zoe. "That was where he wanted to be all along, where he would've ended up if not for that whole Ares thing."

"Yes, and I haven't forgotten that you were planted on my ship to root out any of them here," said Grace, frowning at her. "If you weren't one of the women I love and trust most in all the world we would have had serious words over that."

"At least we don't have to worry about the Empire trying this again," I said. "Not only did Emperor Spock agree to have all their portal projectors destroyed, but I think the idea of facing someone with the power of a god again terrifies his starship captains."

"Power of a god," chuckled Grace. "That's me."

"I don't suppose you're ever going to tell us how you pulled that stuff off?" I said, not really expecting an answer.

"No," she said, "I don't think I am. Even if I was allowed to, it's far more fun keeping you guessing."

"Here's hoping we never have to deal with the mirror universe again!" said Jill, raising her glass.

"Hear, hear!" said Zoe. "Though I have to say it was intriguing seeing a version of my old body, and what I'd have looked like if I hadn't been infected with Regellian polymyositis and died."

"Yeah," said Grace, thoughtfully. "Their Uhura was fascinated to learn I'm the daughter of Arthur Coleman and Janice Lester for some reason and kept giving me the strangest looks I have no idea why."

Since their presence in the Empire fleet would have been difficult to explain, we had agreed to take Uhura and her son to Vulcan, where they retrieved the harnesses she and her Spock had used to get here, then returned to their universe.

"Which reminds me..." I said. "She mentioned that her Jim Kirk and Janice Lester had also once swapped bodies. I meant to ask her what happened to him but never got the chance. Oh well, I don't suppose it matters..."


	16. Chapter 16

Epilogue:

It was summer in Montana, but the breeze coming off the nearby Yellowstone River was pleasantly cooling. Not that our guests at the ranch cared. Charlie and Linda were newlyweds, and they only had eyes for each other. They were currently sitting on two of our mountain bikes, strapping their helmets in place.

"The nearest trailhead's only a short ride from here," I said, "and there's no shortage of other outdoor activities for you around Billings, too. You can try your hand at climbing the rim rocks, rafting on the river, horse riding, or anything else that takes your fancy. If you ride into town you'll find we have some top-flight local breweries."

"It's awfully good of you to invite us to honeymoon at your private ranch, Ms Lester," said Linda. "I still don't know why you did since we're both fairly lowly employees at Aragon Futuristics, but we really appreciate it."

"Call me Janice," I said, "and it's my pleasure. Now be off with you and enjoy your day. My chef will prepare you a gourmet dinner when you get back."

As they pedalled off so Cassie emerged from the main ranch house behind me. Everyone believed her to be my personal assistant, but she was so much more.

"Ah, young love!" she said. "They seem to be settling into the guest cottage nicely."

"Of course they are. Did you manage to put the drug in Linda's breakfast orange juice before it was served?"

"I did. It's working its way through her system now and will soon render her sterile. She'll never be a mother, and no doctor will be able to tell her why."

"Good. Years from now, when it's time to kill her, I can't have her leaving any brats behind."

"That would be...unfortunate."

"All this talk of murder is making me horny," I said, turning to Cassie. "Do you want to go to the barn?"

"With you?" she replied. "Always."

I studied her impassive brown face, her naturally pale blue skin having been rendered more acceptable to this era by melaninox, her eyes concealed by dark glasses as always, and smiled. Without another word to each other, we walked down to the barn.

A small structure beside the larger stable where we kept the horses, the barn was deceptively formidable. Inside that wooden structure lay a bunker strong enough to resist all known non-nuclear explosives. And inside the bunker, behind impenetrable tungsten steel doors, was something any government in the world would start a war to get hold of if they ever suspected its existence.

"A shame she no longer flies," I said, running my fingers over the surface of the shuttlecraft.

"She served her purpose," said Cassie, "and now she serves another."

Indeed she does. There are no shortage of beds in the ranch house but there's just something about having sex here, in our only remaining link to a future we'll never see again, that gets our juices flowing.

Cassandra removed her dark glasses revealing the golden 'cat-eyes' that only I was ever allowed to see and shook out her long silver hair. Taking my hand, she led me inside the shuttle and pushed me down on the bed we had put there in place of the passenger seats. Then she threw herself on me. The sex that followed was rough and passionate - just the way I like it.

"It's only taken five years," I said afterwards, as we lay in each other's arms, "five years to amass great wealth and destabilize a planet. I still sometimes marvel at that. Introducing new technology by reverse-engineering components taken from the shuttle, combined with your ability to foresee stock-market trends has made us fabulously wealthy. And we've put that wealth to good use."

Indeed we had. Quite apart from what Aragon Futuristics could legally do with its money, we'd secretly funnelled funds to candidates and organisations we knew would worsten international relations and increase conflict both here in America and across the world. We need to bring about World War III. Fortunately, with Cassandra's ability to see all the possible outcomes of our decisions we're able to apply our funds with almost surgical precision in furtherance of that aim. And it turns out one of the most effective ways of applying our money in this country is by using it to buy politicians. They can be bought surprisingly cheaply, too.

I look at America today, at the increasing internal strife, the growing disputes with its allies, and I can't help but feel a great sense of accomplishment. Before we arrived in this universe, so different from our own, there was an equal chance of Earth's future belonging to either the Empire or the Federation. That's no longer the case. We've tipped the balance decisively. The road we've put it on leads inevitably to the Empire.

"When we first arrived I thought I'd made a terrible mistake," said Cassie, "that this Earth had diverged too far from both yours and that of the Federation to be what we needed. But the longer we were here the more I realised that wasn't the case. Yes, the Eugenics Wars had never happened, and after getting to the moon they turned their back on manned space exploration, but these were less significant than I'd feared."

"The differences worried me, too," I admitted. "After the traitors who led the rebellion were hanged on my Earth and the Constitution of the United Colonies of America formally adopted, Governor-General Benedict Arnold was the first in a long line of Governors-General of the UCA leading up through people like Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon. Those last four were presidents on the Federation's Earth just as they were on this one, but they also have subsequent presidents here whose names I'd never encountered in histories of either the Empire or the Federation. Ford, Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama - who *are* these people?"

Another mystery that confounded me was why, in place of the UCA's northern territories, both the Federation's Earth and this one had something called 'Canada'.

"It doesn't matter," said Cassandra. "Thanks to the chaotic nature of that fractured area of Tholian space, I could see it wouldn't be possible to travel from our universe to this point in time in another until thirty years had passed since our first meeting. Even with all the differences we've encountered, my original plan to send you into the future so that you would still be young enough to bear children when we traveled here was still the correct one."

"If you'd told me that was your intention beforehand I might have refused and taken my chances with Empire security forces."

"Which is why I never did. Am I still hearing reluctance in your voice?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"No, but it does concern me. I can't have you getting cold feet, not now when we've come so far. I think you need a reminder of what's at stake. Computer, access history file on Zefram Cochrane. Project images on shuttle wall."

"Cochrane, Zefram," said its mechanical voice, "born March 12, 2030 in Billings, Montana to Charles and Janice Cochrane. In aftermath of World War III, constructed humanity's first warp-capable vessel, the Phoenix, in Bozeman, Montana, using a Titan II nuclear missile dating from 20th century. On April 5, 2063, made Earth's first warp flight. Phoenix warp signature was detected by Vulcan survey ship, T'Plana Hath, which then made peaceful first contact with humans, including Cochrane, at Phoenix launch site."

A picture of Cochrane shaking hands with the Vulcans appeared on the wall, with their Cochrane looking much older than his years, just as ours had. This was replaced by a second photo, one showing Cochrane as a teenager, with his father.

"Computer, freeze photo," said Cassie.

"I know what you're trying to do," I sighed.

"I know you do, but I'm still going to do it because you need to be reminded what's at stake. This is one of the few photos from Cochrane's childhood to survive the war in either universe. None survive of his mother. Janice Lester needs to become Janice Cochrane and give birth to him in this universe. As his mother you can raise him properly and shape his views so that, as in your universe, when the Vulcans land on Earth, expecting a peaceful first contact, Zephram will kill their leader with a concealed weapon. He and his people will then seize the T'Plana Hath. From that bold act, from that captured technology, the Terran Empire was born on your Earth. And from that same act, it will be reborn on this one. But only if you do your part. You swore an oath to protect the Empire. Do you still hold to that oath?"

"You know I do, damn it," I said, "and when the time arrives to do so I'll lie back, open my legs, and think of the Empire. What I won't do is marry Charlie Cochrane before I need to. Let him and Linda enjoy their time together. After her death, I'll be the friend who consoles him, comforts him, and gets him to fall in love with her. I'll play the part of a loving wife and mother for the sake of the Empire, but not a minute before I need to."

"I can live with that," said Cassandra, smiling and caressing my breasts, before leaning over and opening the small refrigerated storage slot where we kept a few bottles of champagne on ice. She opened one and poured us each a glass.

"If someone other than Spock had become Emperor none of this would be necessary."

"Or if your counterpart hadn't foiled his assassination on Camus II. The Aragonians could see the other Jim Kirk needed to survive beyond the time of his apparent death in order to achieve their aims, but not until recently could they or I see why."

"And Spock died in every other possible future? I can't believe their Kirk being there would be that crucial."

"And yet it was. The closer we got to that point in time, the easier it became for me to see that. As easy as the defeat of the Empire's fleet."

"With Spock at its head the Terran Empire won't survive."

"Not in your universe it won't, no," agreed Cassandra, clinking her glass against mine. "Fortunately, we have an alternative. The Empire is dead. Long live the Empire!"

"Long live the Empire!" I said, throwing back my champagne then grinning.

The future of this Earth would be glorious!

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The End

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End file.
